Annappornim vs Jex_Roselin

First installment of my game blogging. A 30m game, white played the Scillian Smith-Morra gambit, which I have barely any experience on but after 1. e4 c5, 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 ...

[I felt wierd but still ok, following the opening line to here seemed intuitive enough, i'm a pawn up, the white king is semi-exposed (can I take advantage of it?), I don't think so, it's an established opening after all, so white sacrficed a pawn to create an open game and a better lead in development].

Time to develop as normal with a more passive consideration. ...4. ... Nc6 5.Bc4 a6 6.Nf3 b5 7.Bb3 Bb7 8.Bf4 e6 9.O-O Be7 10.Bd6 and we reach my first point of consideration, so far my play has been geared to developing on the Queenside to take the a8-h1 diagonal and shut out whites Queenside knight and white bishop.

So white wants to trade bishops, admittedly it's technically my 'good bishop', but my pawn structure still has flexibility. Do I want to take? hmm it's lets whites queen develop with tempo and locks my position, I don't fancy that. I'll leave it there for now, develop to place some more control on the d6 square and my long diagonal, if he exchanges bishops, my knight develops. Play continues 10. ... Qb6

11.Bxe7 Ngxe7 12.Qd2 Ng6 13.Rfd1 ... pressures mounting on my backward pawn but I still have options, which to go for? (also white seems to be under the 15m mark, i'm at 22m). Most moves look rather passive and seems to invite white to jam the queen at d6 (again) pinned my Queenside knight to my queen, I don't care for that, I do like Nce5, serves the same defensive purpose even after a knight exchange, it even starts to feel like i'm generating pressure on whites kingside. I just have to check for uncomfortable queen moves or ways white might take advantage of my hanging knight... hmm all seems good, lets play! 13. ... Nce5 14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Kh1? white has thought for a while over these moves, perhaps I played something he didn't expect, still 15. Kh1? I didn't understand, but there'll be plenty of time to analyze that later after the game, I have to play in the here-and-now 15. ... Rd8 (seemed a sensible move, I want to push the d-pawn and open up the file, my rook scoping out the white queen. 16.f4 Ng4 17.Rf1!

I'd known my knight could be rerouted if under pressure via Nf6 for a while. Of course I enjoyed the tactical consideration of Nf2+ forking King and Rook but I figured it was obvious and a defense for it would be made, though whites Rf1 seemed too passive (though I handn't thought deeply about whites options, just that no surprises seemed to be awaiting me). It seems a good time to have a look at my tactical options (Ne3 -> Nc4) myeh it creates a hassle for white but doesn't achieve anything, (b6?) (can I open the d-file?) (Qf2 is a checkmate diagonal -if only that f-pawn could be moved) ... ok no fruit here, i'm just wasting my clock and I can pressure whites time further, lets carry on with positional moves. 17. ... Nf6 18.e5 Ne4 19.Nxe4 Bxe4 20.Rac1 O-O

21.Rc3 d6 22.exd6 (adjust the game below accordingly)

White's down to 3 minutes, shame that could spoil the endgame but time to bust open the d-file, increase my pawn-advantage, i still like my bishop (i'll likely move it back if it gets attacked, play it safe and i'll win on time for sure... play continues and the time pressure removes whites ability to see the mate threat I am planning after removing whites bishop from guarding the key back rank square.

ConclusionsI felt like there should have been more aggression from white towards my kingside (instead of the d-file), i'm happy with my defensive system though perhaps a different order should have been played at the beginning instead of a6, though I knew I wanted my c8 bishop on the long diagonal. I feel more astute with respect to my time and that my choice to delay castling felt like the right decision (keeping white undecided about me, but also that my king felt safe in the centre). All around, it just seemed like a solid game, tactical considerations but nothing that was actualized.